The Teddy Bear Revelation
by Melissa2
Summary: A ficlet in response to the Slipstream challenge "Trance, Harper, and a teddy bear. I leave the rest to your imagination." Please read & review.


Title: The Teddy Bear Revelation  
Author: Melissa  
Rating: PG  
Archive: Sure, but please email me telling me where it's going.  
Author's Note: My first ever response to a fic challenge. Not my best piece of work ever, in fact it probably is my second worst Andromeda fic or ficlet.  
Disclaimer: Andromeda belongs to Tribune, not me.  
In Response to Slipstream Challenge #2: Trance, Harper, and a teddy bear. I leave the rest to your imagination.  
  
  
  
Heartbroken didn't even come close to saying half of it. Harper had not moved from his bed since the moment the one woman he thought he actually loved rejected him. He didn't think it was another one of his 'cosmic connections' he used as an excuse to seduce the next girl that walked along. It was a lot deeper and hurt a hell of a lot more when she had turned him down. Persistence didn't pay off for him, either. She got an intergalactic restraining order with his name on it.  
  
"Harper?" asked a sweet voice that could only belong to one girl--Trance.  
  
"I don't feel like getting up or talking or anything else so you might as well leave and save yourself the time," Harper said without even bothering to glance up at her.  
  
The response was silence. 'Maybe she actually left me alone for once,' he mused before completely burying his head in the pillow again.  
  
"I brought you something that will make you feel better." Her voice was coming from the foot of his bed.  
  
'She'll go away if I pretend I'm asleep and just leave whatever it is that's supposed to make me feel better here,' he hoped. He waited silently for what felt like forever.  
  
"Harper? I know you're awake," she said.  
  
"What did you bring?" he finally asked, turning over and really hoping she would leave him alone after giving it to him.  
  
"Here." She handed him a very cute light brown teddy bear with big blue eyes.  
  
"This kind of teddy isn't gonna make me feel much better. If you could get her in here wearing a teddy with a torn up restraining order, then I'd feel better. But thanks for trying anyways," Harper said.  
  
"That's not all it does. Squeeze her hand," she said, wearing a small smile.  
  
Harper squeezed the bear's hand. It said, "I love you," in a friendly female voice. He half-smiled before putting the bear on his night stand. He hadn't ever been extremely fond of stuffed animals in general, but the gesture was sweet and cute, much like Trance herself.  
  
"Do you like it, Harper?" Trance asked, her eyes conveying her eagerness to make him happy.  
  
"Yeah, I like it Trance. Doesn't make the hurt go away, but it's a start." He had wanted her to leave so much before, but now he kind of wanted her to stick around for a while.  
  
"What was her name?" Trance asked.  
  
"Yeah, I didn't tell anyone anything about her, did I? Her name is Kate."  
  
"What did you like so much about her?"  
  
He hadn't even asked himself that, just went with the flow of his feelings. He pondered it a moment before replying, "She was sweet and cute. Knew how to make a guy she didn't hate feel good about himself. Just a lot of things."   
  
"Oh," was all Trance said.  
  
'Sweet, cute, makes me feel good...Kate was a human version of you and that teddy bear. Only difference is that she only liked engineers and short guys when she was really really drunk,' Harper realized. 'Why didn't I see it then? You don't hate me, and what do we have to lose? I've seen stranger things than a super genius surfer/engineer and a sparkly purple babe...'  
  
"When are you going to get up and go back to being yourself?" She had seated herself on the edge of his bed.  
  
"How about right now? We could go to Hydroponics or Mess Deck or anywhere you want to go," he offered with a smile.   
  
"Let's go down to Hydroponics! I have some new flowers you haven't seen yet!" she said enthusiastically.  
  
"Sounds good to me. And we have lunch together after Hydroponics?" He was looking forward to it, even though Hydroponics wasn't usually his favorite place to be.  
  
She grabbed his arm. "Sure we can have lunch together. The new flowers are from Infinity Atoll. They're so pretty," she began before going on and on about her flowers.  
  
'As long as she doesn't get a restraining order, I think we're gonna be just fine,' he thought, Kate completely out of his mind for good.  



End file.
